Abstract
Nanoscale laser damage precursors generated from fabrication have emerged as a new bottleneck that limits the laser damage resistance improvement of fused silica optics. In this paper, ion beam etching (IBE) technology is performed to investigate the evolutions of some nanoscale damage precursors (such as contamination and chemical structural defects) in different ion beam etched depths. Surface material structure analyses and laser damage resistance measurements are conducted. The results reveal that IBE has an evident cleaning effect on surfaces. Impurity contamination beneath the polishing redeposition layer can be mitigated through IBE. Chemical structural defects can be significantly reduced, and surface densification is weakened after IBE without damaging the precision of the fused silica surface. The photothermal absorption on the fused silica surface can be decreased by 41.2%, and the laser-induced damage threshold can be raised by 15.2% after IBE at 250 nm. This work serves as an important reference for characterizing nanoscale damage precursors and using IBE technology to increase the laser damage resistance of fused silica optics.
Highlights
Optical materials, such as fused silica, are widely applied in high-power inertial confinement fusion laser systems
An increasing number of researchers have realized that microscale and nanoscale optical defects are the important barriers in improving laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) and could lead to laser damage [5,6]
As a result of it,Inradiation scattering and phonon generation occur; of inseveral addition, laser radiation damage can be this paper, the experiments are focused on thecan evolution types of nanoscale reflected and focused or interfere with the incident wave, which causes laser damage and worsens precursors in shallow ion beam etching (IBE), which is significant for determining the inherent characteristics of nanoscale the IBE provides a new waylaser to mitigate nanoscale damage precursors of fused silica, but damage on the surface damagethe resistance
Summary
Optical materials, such as fused silica, are widely applied in high-power inertial confinement fusion laser systems. Many studies have been conducted on the optical defects generated from the fabrication of fused silica because of their importance. These optical defects in fused silica will evolve into laser damage precursors and seriously lead to laser damage because of the illumination of sufficient fluence ultraviolet lasers [1,2,3,4]. Numerous studies have revealed that contamination (metal impurities and redeposited compounds) and fracture defect (brittle scratches) are the main optical defects in the polishing and mitigation of fused silica optics. The optical defects in the fabrication of fused silica optics for high-power laser systems should be suppressed and mitigated
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